hi guys.
i was able to visit a local (if you call being over an hour away local) bmw dealer who has two of these on the floor. wow. the pictures and reviews don't even being to touch on the uniqueness of this bike.
one unit was setup as a fully-loaded (including nav) demo, used for taking out on long hauls. it had the nav and it's something that's giving me pause, especially since it's like a nearly $900 option. you see, it's not a built-in like on a goldwing, instead, it's a modified garmin unit that can come out and used (i'm assuming) elsewhere. the problem i forsee is that it might not be sunlight readable, as i noticed a lot of glare just from the showroom's lights. i don't know if the ones on a goldwing are better in the sun or not.
as i sat on the bike, a couple of things came to mind right off:
1. the seat was wonderful- flat, supportive, room to move but also fits slightly snug. it has a slightly raised back which might be able to be leaned on while riding.
2. the height of the bars and their reach felt damn-near perfect. i have trouble with my right arm going painfully dead within 10-15 minutes of riding, and the addition of the CC on my bike was a necessity. fwiw, when the CC is engaged, i always ride with my left hand, which never suffers like the right.
2a. coming from sportbikes, i'm used to the feeling of being slightly canted forward, arms out, wind supporting the weight of my upper body. i don't believe i've had any experience with bikes in this configuration, so long-haul comfort is iffy at this point.
3. (big disappointment) despite the roominess of the seat and bars, my legs felt bent in half, which, at this point before my knee surgery, is a big no-go. now the dealer said something about getting engine guards in which would either allow forward foot pegs to be used or for the bars themselves to act as a foot rest...i wasn't quite paying attention.
4. the side bags look huge from the outside, but look pretty small when opened. i didn't have a helmet with me to really see and because of highway construction, i got to the shop about 15 minutes before it closed, but the owner was cool enough to hang around for a bit. he even said that had i gotten there earlier, i could have gone out on a ride. two things about that: 1) never had any other dealer just offered that to me before, despite my clean record and experience in all things two-wheeled, and 2) it was over 100 degrees...ain't no way i was going out in that sh1t. hell, i didn't even take the connie out because of the heat.
5. we took off a side bag, and the bike looks just as good without them as it does with them. the exhaust is a thing of beauty. with all the bags off, including the top case, this thing would still rock.
6. the instrument panel is knock-your-socks-off great, with everything easily legible and in color! i love the speedo/tach guages and how it's all setup. it all made sense easily and quickly.
6a. it will probably take a year to get used to all of the options this bike has...whew!
6b. driver's seat heat is adjustable, whereas the passenger's is on/off. the passenger has a switch on the l/s of the seat to turn it on/off. whenever seat or grip heating is on, there is an icon of the seats that turns red to let you know.
7. storage cubbies are incredibly small, but it's nice to know i can take a thumbdrive with my music on it and connect it to the system.
overall, this bike is gorgeous to look at, much better than the connie. though i haven't spent hours looking at it, i just don't see this getting old to look at. yes there is a big price difference but it might be worth it. it doesn't look as huge and ungainly as a goldwing and it's cheaper to boot.
yeah you can outfit a new 14 with many of what's on the GTL and for less, but it will never feel integrated and in the end, it's still a run-of-the-mill jap bike (nothing against that). it's sorta like owning a camry vs. a lexus sedan. the lexus is more expensive, but it brings things to the game that no tricked-out camry could hope to bring. (for the record, we've owned 1 camry and three lexus vehicles)
so i guess time will tell. how will this bike do when it's been out in the field for a while? what issues will come up? as we all know, the showroom floor <> the real world. but for some, not having KiPASS makes it a winner right off!
as a side story, the owner/dealer was trying to tell me how 'powerful' this 6-cyliner is. while ~140mph and ~130hp isn't bad, i was laughing on the inside because i came from the world of sportbikes, my last being a zx-10r with roughly 160+ hp and could hit damn near 180mph. doesn't matter anyhow since i'm more concerned about range/economy and rarely go over 80.